Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspxNo technology today; just talking about the weather.
I love talking about the weather.
I mentioned the other day that I had just returned from my ancestral homeland on the shores of Lake Huron, the great inland sea of southwestern Ontario. We goten-USTelligent Evolution Platform Developer Build (Build: 5.6.50428.7875)re: Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspx#7677158Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:26:09 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:7677158dietas<p>Eager to read the Part 2 of this post.</p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7677158" width="1" height="1">re: Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspx#4197748Fri, 03 Aug 2007 05:57:25 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:4197748Harold<p>Suggestion for part n: forget about relative humidity, it's all about the dew point.</p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4197748" width="1" height="1">re: Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspx#4193862Thu, 02 Aug 2007 23:56:42 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:4193862Fluvial<p>One of my best friends is getting her PhD in Atmospheric Science so I shall present this question to her and get back to you with a formal answer from a real live scientist.</p>
<p>Carry on.</p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4193862" width="1" height="1">re: Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspx#4191082Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:03:16 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:4191082Pascal<p>Well I think water molecules have a strong magnetic polarity, and moving them up and down creates a inducted current .</p>
<p>This current strips some electrons in the air, slowly building up a charge difference.</p>
<p>When the charge is high enough - BLAM, the air becomes conductor and a lightning occurs.</p>
<p>So I think the clouds are turning mechanical energy (the vapour going up) into electrical energy until it becomes a storm and discharge to the ground.</p>
<p>Does it make sense? </p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4191082" width="1" height="1">re: Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspx#4190750Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:25:19 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:4190750BigTuna<p>&gt; So what is making the condensed water stay in the air ? winds ?</p>
<p>If I'm remembering flight school correctly, wind is indeed the answer. &nbsp;Raindrops condense as parcels of warmer surface air are lifted and cooled in the updraft of a thunderstorm. &nbsp;The raindrops continue to condense and merge with each other until they become too heavy for the air column to support. &nbsp;The stronger an updraft is, the larger the raindrops will be.</p>
<p>Eric - please delete this post if I'm spoiling any secrets that you're saving for followup posts. &nbsp;Glad to see a fellow coder interested in meteorology!</p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4190750" width="1" height="1">re: Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspx#4190698Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:18:57 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:4190698Eric Lippert<p>OK, good point.</p>
<p>Look at it this way. The amount a droplet is influenced by updrafts is proportional to both its surface area (which is being pushed by the draft) and its mass (which gives it resistance to changing direction). &nbsp;But the amount it is influenced by gravity is proportional only to the mass.</p>
<p>The mass is proportional to volume.</p>
<p>The volume rises as the cube of the radius of the droplet. The surface area rises as the square. &nbsp;So as the droplet grows, the amount of loft it can get from an updraft gets less and less, because its area is not increasing nearly as fast as its mass.</p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=4190698" width="1" height="1">re: Talking About The Weather, Part Onehttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/08/02/talking-about-the-weather-part-one.aspx#4190254Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:22:59 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:4190254Bahbar<p>&gt; If the droplets get big enough then they become denser than the surrounding atmosphere and fall back to earth in the form of rain.</p>
<p>I am not a meteorologist by any means, but that notion that density increases as droplets get bigger is wrong.</p>
<p>As soon as the water condenses, its density is pretty much fixed. It is immediately denser than the atmosphere too. It does not get &quot;denser&quot; as the droplets merge. So what is making the condensed water stay in the air ? winds ? </p>
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